Round and round the Ritter Range 2007

[quentinc]

Finally, this is the trip report I've been hinting at in various posts.

I took a week to explore Roper's "High Route" on both sides of the Ritter Range, which I've now concluded may be the single most beautiful stretch of the Sierra. I started from the June Lake area and went over North Glacier Pass (west of Thousand Island Lake), sustained a dislocated left shoulder , but kept going to Blue Lake. I dayhiked over to Yosemite from there -- it is truly amazing how the terrain looks quintessentially Mammoth (volcanic with amazing peaks) on the east side of Blue Lake Pass and quintessentially Yosemite (granite slabs/domes, meadows, gentler peaks) on the west side of the pass.

After coming back over North Glacier Pass, I had intended to head down to Minaret Lake and clamber up on Volcanic Ridge, but I ran out of food, time, energy and camera battery (so I made it only as far as the foreboding Iceberg Lake). I had also hoped to climb Ritter, but I figured I needed to locate my shoulder first before trying that.

On the way out, I passed several terrifying encampments of men swarming around enormous blue tents and carrying rifles. It was by far the creepiest thing I've ever seen in the mountains (is it hunting season already????). This was right in the area I had planned for my last night's camp. So I had to alter my plans and keep going until dark, where I ended up -- in all seriousness -- at a spot called "Spooky Meadow." But it was far less spooky than being around the paramilitary cult.

Here are some pictures:

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/560765342AHvtRj

[BSquared]

What a great hike! (Hope you've located your shoulder -- did you take a GPS position where you dislocated it? Might make it easier to locate again...)

I remember hiking out through Spooky Meadows once long ago -- it was quite spooky, partly because there were roughed grouse in the area, and I've always thought their distant drumming to be among the spookiest sounds in the backcountry. Sounds like somebody gently blowing over the top of a wine bottle to me, and it's completely impossible to locate the direction of the source. (I've only had a chance to look at a few of your beautiful photos, but I'm pretty sure the bird you've labeled as an "ouzel" is actually a grouse.)

[TehipiteTom]

Ouch--that sounds really painful. Sounds like a great trip nonetheless, and love the pics. I really love that island--I got a pic here:


The last time I saw Spooky Meadow it was pouring rain and we were hightailing it to the trailhead. I recall a kind of talus-y section of trail below there that was very slick in the rain--not exactly spooky, but certainly nerve-wracking.

[maverick]

Thanks for the trip report and pic's. Cant go wrong with the Ansel
Adams area.
I remember Spooky Meadow because of the carpets of purple flowers
that covered it when I last went thru it back in the 90's.

[quentinc]

BSquared: I identified that as an ouzel only because Roper's book says to look for ouzels in that very area, and that ouzels are gray, stocky, slow moving and bob up and down. I'd never even heard of an ouzel previously. So it's possible that Roper is making the whole thing up, which would be consistent with some of his directions.

[BSquared]

I'd never even heard of an ouzel previously. So it's possible that Roper is making the whole thing up, which would be consistent with some of his directions.

In the 1997 edition, Roper says, "Phrases such as 'Roper wasn't too clear here' humbled me and made me dart for my old notes and visit tricky spots when I could..." Heheheh...

But he definitely didn't make up the Ouzel. Its other name is a "dipper," and it's an extremely cool bird. It's much smaller than the roughed grouse, practically spherical, black, and it's never found far from running water and most often in it. I've seen dippers flying along low over a tiny mountain streamlet and following absolutely every bend and twist, no matter how small, just to stay right above the water. John Muir says they dive in and out of major waterfalls, but I haven't managed to see that.

Did you ever discover who the guys in the blue tents were? That really does sound creepy -- frankly it creeps me out just to see one guy walking along packing a rod on his hip, quite common in the Rockies. But a whole bunch of 'em in identical tents?

[hikerduane]

Man, can't take you guys anywhere. Ouzels are gray and dip up and down, like a nervous habit. I have them on the creek where I live. They do tend to fly low over the water and follow every twist and turn. Now, lets go snipe hunting. Any takers?

[copeg]

Thanks for sharing the TR. That last 'spooky' segment....very wierd.
Great photos. Loved browsing though them all. Although I've been along much of the trails of this area, there seems so much offtrail areas its astounding. I hope to explore it all one of these days.

[oldranger]

Well I always thought they hung around running water but sometime in the mid 80s i went over the easternmost saddle between Table and Cunningham creeks in the Great western Divide and I think it was at the middle tarn in the little tributary of Cunningham with 3 tarns that the saddle accesses I came across about 2 dozen of the normally solitary dippers boppin on the rocks on the edge of the tarn and literally flying underneath the water. I had a great view and watched the gathering for about 20 minutes or so. I returned a couple of times over the next few years but never again there or anywhere else came across such a gathering.

Mike

[BSquared]

Man, can't take you guys anywhere. Ouzels are gray and dip up and down, like a nervous habit. I have them on the creek where I live. They do tend to fly low over the water and follow every twist and turn. Now, lets go snipe hunting. Any takers?

Damn, you're right, they are gray! Just goes to show: time to log off and get up into the mountains again!